As a groundbreaking clinical trial examining the use of gene therapy in treating Canavan disease winds to a close, the country?s leading researcher into the hereditary brain disorder is now looking to stem-cell therapy to treat the disease.

Though Israeli Edward (Edy) Kaufman and Palestinian Manuel Hassassian teach a summer course together at the University of Maryland on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, their discussions rarely end when the class bell rings. Often they will continue on through the dinner hour at the house the two share near campus — as part of a

Leading up to last weekend’s Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg, talk swirled in the United States and Europe over how best to confront Russia’s perceived slide toward authoritarianism. In the end, the United States and its allies opted not to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin openly about his consolidation

A rabbi’s son following in his father’s footsteps is hardly a novel phenomenon. Rabbinic dynasties are perhaps as old as the rabbinate itself. But late last month, a synagogue in Orange County, Calif., put a decidedly modern spin on the old paradigm.On June 29, Rabbi Stephen Einstein and his daughter Rabbi Rebecca Schorr collectively entered

An urgent matter has come to the attention of the Israeli prime minister, and immediate action is required. The army has uncovered a network of weapons-smuggling tunnels in Gaza and is requesting permission to strike; such an operation, however, has the potential to upset the fragile peace that has followed Israel’s controversial disengagement

Ted Junker first startled the residents of his rural Wisconsin town this month with his plans to open a memorial to Adolf Hitler on his property. As the controversy grew in advance of the site’s proposed opening, the 87-year-old retired farmer made an announcement with more far-reaching implications: Junker claimed to local media that he

According to the Albanian concept of besa, a sort of code of honor, a person in need must be provided with every possible measure of protection and assistance. It was thanks in no small measure to this idea that nearly all of Albania’s 2,000 Jews — and hundreds of foreign Jewish refugees — were spared as World War II tore through Europe.In

By virtually any measure, 29-year-old Joshua Rikon is a good catch — handsome, observant and a lawyer to boot. But then again, Rikon’s fiancee, Rebecca Benjamin, really didn’t need much guidance in such matters. As “director of matchmaker operations” for the Web sites SawYouAtSinai.com and JRetroMatch.com, she was well versed

Midway through its hauntingly minimalist performance on the opening night of Moscow’s second-annual klezmer festival, the vocal quartet Ashkenazim took a dramatically long pause to introduce the song “Dem Shokhens Meydl.” The group’s tenor, Alina Ivakh, explained that song is an allegorical tale of two young pioneer girls — the